


A Match Made in Space

by RhysLahey



Series: The Kuiper Cycle [3]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Foster Care, Found Family, Getting Together, Isaac is Mason’s big brother, M/M, Mason’s dad is called Jeff, Mason’s mum is called Leonor, Now with a Melancholic epilogue, POV Mason Hewitt, SO MUCH FLUFF, Space AU, and he’s an amazing brother
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-15 16:56:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28816707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RhysLahey/pseuds/RhysLahey
Summary: Mason and his family have just settled in Beacon H, the furthest colony of the Kuiper Belt. During the inauguration, he meets Corey, but he loses him in the crowd. Thankfully Mason can trust his brother to help him.
Relationships: Corey Bryant/Mason Hewitt, Isaac Lahey & Mason Hewitt
Series: The Kuiper Cycle [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2093061
Comments: 8
Kudos: 6





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is part of a complex AU and is an appendix that adds to the main story ([The Green Hills of Earth](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26355982)). It will make little sense if you haven't read it, but the basics that you need to know are:
> 
>   * Mason's parents took Isaac in foster care
>   * They live in a colony in the furthest corner of the Solar System
>   * Isaac is originally from Uranus, the Hewitts from Jupiter
>   * The end note has a glossary
> 


**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mason meets Corey during the colony's inauguration, but they are separated in the crowds. Big brother Isaac then comems to the rescue.

“Hurry up, Mason!” Isaac groaned from the front door. “We’re going to be _late_!”

“Coming!” Mason rolled his eyes.

Mason had only finished getting ready for the day. It was all very easy for Isaac to shout at him, but his foster brother had been hogging the bathroom and had only given him twenty minutes to get ready. In the end, Mason put on a new red shirt under a black jacket. At the door he saw Isaac was wearing a blue shirt and his brand-new scarf, which was burgundy with a grey line.

“One day as a qualified mechanic and you’re already showing off?” he asked, arching an eyebrow.

“You’re just jealous because astronomers don’t get service scarves,” his foster brother grinned. “Come on, let’s get going.”

Mason walked out, Isaac locked the door behind them, and the two teenagers walked towards the Communal Block to join in the celebrations of the official inauguration of Beacon H. The inaugural ceremony was taking place a few months after the day construction actually concluded. A first event had taken place back then, led by Colony Commander Derek Hale and Mason’s mother, Deputy Colony Administrator Leonor Hewitt, but getting together the main leaders of the Kuiper Belt stations (both from the Incorporated Council of Pluto and Charon and from the Outer Rim) for the official event had taken longer to arrange.

For the Hewitts, however, the day was more important because it was the day that Isaac had finished his mechanics apprenticeship. He was now going to prepare for his qualification so then he could transfer to engineering, which was what he really wanted to do. Mason and his parents were so proud of him – he really had changed in the two years he had been living with them, and it was clear that Isaac loved doing that. Mason thought that it was because Isaac now felt useful. Of course, getting such a confession from his brother was impossible, but Mason could tell even if it was simply because it felt like Isaac had helped building Beacon H. There were entire areas of the station, for example, where his foster brother could point and claim that he had bolted this or that panel, and there were whole sections that he had added to or improved from the original design.

This did not mean that while Isaac helped in building their new home Mason had been idle. He had spent the last years preparing for the technical and academic astronomy courses that he needed before he could get his degree. Mason knew that there was going to be a new orbital telescope being built soon, and he needed to be ready to apply for the position whenever the station was ready. When he was told by his parents, years ago, that they would be moving to the Kuiper Belt, all of Mason’s astronomy dreams had come true. Watching the skies was easy in a society that had colonised planets and asteroids, but observing the universe from the edge of the Oort Cloud was going to be a unique opportunity.

Mason and Isaac made their way around the ring and Isaac pointed at a couple of minor details about the construction that were hilarious to him, but that meant little to Mason. The closer they got to the Communal Block, the thicker the crowds got, until they reached a point where they could not walk anymore, and they stood there, looking ahead.

The inauguration began with a few speeches by the relevant politicians, who were full of big words and empty messages. The speeches went on and on, and they were long and boring, so eventually Isaac began to roll his eyes so hard that Mason almost burst into laughter.

“… _Because the colonisation of space is the way forward – the way forward for humanity and_ …” some councillor from Pluto was saying while Isaac yawned.

“You’d think that for someone who has built this place you’d be more interested in what they’re saying,” Mason said, only slightly in reproach.

“We heard the real speeches last month,” Isaac defended himself shrugging his shoulders.

“Your mum and Derek said things that actually mattered because they are the people who have to live here. With us. This lot are here just for the free food.”

Isaac still refused to refer to Mrs Hewitt as his mother. Mason could not understand why because he felt as if Isaac did not really want him to be his brother, but Leonor had asked her son to be patient, that Isaac had a mother and a brother of his own, and it was difficult to let go of your family – even if you were getting a new one.

Mason did not have much time to dwell on that, because a stranger interrupted his thoughts.

“Well, some of us were not here back then,” a boy standing in front of them turned around to tell them off, but it soon became clear he was only joking. “I’m sure nothing is as important as what ‘this colony can do for the Outer Rim and all the people who people it’,” he quoted as he pulled a face, making Isaac and Mason chuckle. There was something in the way the boy spoke that reminded him of Isaac, and soon enough, his own brother asked a similar question.

“You’re an Icer too, aren’t you?” he ventured.

“I am!” the boy turned around, completely ignoring the politicians addressing the masses, and giving both of them a smile. He must have been their age, roughly. Probably closer to Mason’s than to Isaac’s, even if they were just two years apart. He was lean and slim, with pale white skin and light brown hair which he kept clipped short. He was also shorter than Isaac, that was clear, but he was probably as tall as Mason. “I’m from Triton. Where are you from?”

“A Neptunian, huh?” Isaac nodded approvingly. Mason knew that, in his brother’s world view, Neptunians were not Uranians, but they were the next best thing. “I’m from Oberon. It’s good to have other Icers around, right? We should stick together with all these innerds.”

“Excuse you,” Mason interrupted. “I’m from Jupiter and I don’t like this dismissive banter of yours. It’s not as if we’re from Mars.”

“That’s alright. We’re all Koops now, aren’t we?” the boy said, now smiling at Mason. Only at him. Mason had not seen that coming, and had not been prepared for it. “Sorry, my name’s Corey.”

“Hey, I’m Isaac,” the Uranian introduced himself extending his hand, which Corey took, even if he was still looking at Mason with the same silly smile plastered on. “And this is Mason.”

“Nice to meet you,” Mason said with his giddy smile, shaking his hand. Mason thought he saw Isaac squint menacingly. Mason was about to say something else, but they were interrupted and had their voices drowned by the loud applause that indicated that the speeches were finally over. Corey began to clap too, soon followed by Mason and Isaac, but Mason still kept his eyes fixed on Corey. The crowd started to shift as individuals moved in every direction, bumping into other people’s shoulders as they walked to the stands where the food was. Mason was about to reach for the Neptunian before he disappeared, but he and Isaac were held back by a pair of hands pulling their sleeves.

“There you are!” It was Erica. Boyd was just standing behind her. Erica and Boyd were their friends; there had not been that many people their age on the Talia, but Erica and Boyd were decent people and a good laugh. “Come, my mother is saving us a place in the admin hall. I think she wants us to talk with Derek about the junior officer programme, but I think it’s just Derek not standing to be with the Councillors of Pluto and Ultima Thule.”

Despite the apparent hurry, Erica stood there for a good couple of minutes, explaining what Derek had been moaning about, until Boyd reminded her about her waiting mother. All the while Erica was talking, Mason spent it throwing casual glimpses over his shoulder, looking at the place where Corey had been standing. By the time he could turn around properly to have a last look, the Neptunian was nowhere to be seen.

**˳̊ ¤ ˳̊ Ø ˳̊ ¤ ˳̊**

At first, when he saw Beacon H being built, Mason thought that it was tiny, especially when compared to the colonies of Jupiter and Saturn he knew from his earlier childhood. It was even small for Uranus and Neptune standards, as Isaac had pointed out. And yet, trying to find Corey again had turned out to be an impossible task.

A week had passed since the inauguration, and no matter how hard he tried, Mason had not been able to find Corey. Walking around hoping to bump into him had not really worked, and even if he wanted to look for him actively he did not know where to start: he did not know who his parents were, or what they did. He did not know what Corey was doing there either. He did not even know his surname. He only knew that he was a Neptunian that had arrived after the station had been finished, which was not much help.

Perhaps that was the problem – that they had only exchanged a handful of words and he did not know that much about him. Perhaps Mason had just seen a cute face and a beautiful smile and his mind was imagining everything else, including the fluttering feeling in his chest. Perhaps Corey was not as interested in Mason as he had thought, and he had just been polite.

However, if Mason balanced the former thoughts against the latter, the first ones always won. True, he had not much experience with guys, but he had some general idea and a lot of expectations. Against him stood the fact that he was only sixteen and he had spent his early teenage years in a half-built colony where guys his age were rare enough (and the only one he had met ended up becoming his foster brother). But, in his favour, Mason had seen Isaac’s romance with Gabe flourish, grow and crash, and he had seen enough Martian soaps and read sufficient aothreean classics to know what to expect (and what to avoid) from boys his age.

Mason could not stop thinking about Corey. He needed to see him again, even if simply to convince himself that it was all a pointless crush, like the one he used to have on Derek when he first boarded the Talia.

“That’s my bed,” Isaac said flatly when he entered their room. He had been in the Education block studying while Mason pined after Corey in their room, lying in the bottom bunk.

“Just sit on the chair,” Mason groaned. Isaac frowned, but sat at the desk where all of Mason’s stuff was spread.

“Observations at the edge of the heliopause?” Isaac read aloud. “That sounds cool. Too much for me, but cool nonetheless.”

“Just leave it.” Mason really did not want to talk about that right now, so he just threw his arm over his eyes and tried to ignore Isaac, but then something landed on him. “Ouch! What in Oort? You threw me a shoe!”

“Moaner,” Isaac rolled his eyes and grinned when Mason sat up and glared at him, tossing his brother’s massive shoe to the floor. “That’s what you get for unmaking my bed. Get off it.”

“ _No_?” Mason warned him when Isaac made an attempt to take off his other shoe.

“Okay, then. Why are you on my bed?”

“Never mind.”

“Why are you on my bed?”

“Stop it.”

“Why are you on my bed?” Isaac insisted as he rolled his head and put his feet up on the desk.

“That’s my stuff you’re putting your feet on,” Mason glared.

“That’s _my_ bed you’re lying on!”

“Okay. Fine!” Mason huffed as he stood up, stomping down on the floor to make a point.

“That’s not what I meant, you asteroid,” Isaac said, spinning on the chair until he was facing Mason.

“Just leave me alone.”

“Not so fast,” Isaac stood up, and Mason sagged his shoulders before sitting back down on Isaac’s bed. “I didn’t say you had to move.”

“Yes, you did.”

“Whatever,” Isaac walked closer until he was leaning with his elbow on the top bunk, looking down at Mason. “I just wanted to know why my bed.”

Isaac knew why he was in his bed, and Mason knew that they both knew, but he was just being difficult: it was an unwritten rule they had since they first boarded on the _Talia_ , that whenever they were in the other one’s bed it was most likely because they wanted to talk (or were unconsciously worried) about something that the other may be able to help with.

Mason sighed and admitted defeat. Isaac was soon sitting on his own bed next to him, biting his lip and staring at his socks, because even if his brother knew that this was what Mason needed, and even if he wanted to help, Isaac was still not happy at all with talking about serious stuff like feelings, or plans for the future, or embarrassing situations in the _Talia_ ’s amenities room.

“So, I’ve been thinking for a while now,” Mason admitted when Isaac was already sat shoulder to shoulder. “But do you remember that boy we met on the inauguration?”

Isaac nodded, biting his lip, only this time Mason guessed it was to stop himself from grinning. “Aham.”

“Corey, his name is,” Mason decided to ignore Isaac’s antics.

“Oh, I think I _remember_ now,” Isaac said with a knowing tone.

“Isaac!” he snapped, and Isaac chuckled. “Okay, okay. I’m listening.”

“Well… I haven’t seen him since?”

“And you… want to see him again?” Mason simply sighed. There followed an uncomfortable pause where Mason did not know what else to say and Isaac was fighting to put his thoughts into words.

“Maybe he… was just passing?” Isaac guessed. “Maybe he was visiting for the inauguration. I told you there were too many people there for the free food…”

“No… that doesn’t make sense,” Mason reasoned. “He said we were all Koops now. And he said I’d see him around. And I _haven’t_ seen him around.”

“Ah.”

There was another pause and Mason could guess from the way that his brother was shifting where he sat that Isaac knew something.

“Isaac?” Mason eventually rolled his eyes.

“Shut up.”

Mason let out a frustrated growl and gently pushed Isaac, but Isaac was older and stronger, so he pushed back harder, which resulted in the two of them wrestling on the bed for a few seconds until Isaac bumped his head against the top bunk.

“Ouch! Look what you’ve done!” Isaac hissed, pulling himself away.

“You started it!” Isaac and Mason sat at either end of the bed, calming down.

“So, _Corey_ , huh?” Isaac eventually grinned, still rubbing the back of his head.

“Just forget about him…” Mason stood up and made to go, but Isaac beat him to the door. Mason cursed his stupidly long legs with an eyeroll.

“No, I won’t,” his foster brother insisted. “Just give me a couple of days.”

“Oh, and what are you going to do?” Mason questioned, looking up at Isaac.

“Don’t ask if you don’t want to know,” he concluded with the smirk he always pulled whenever he and Erica were up to something.

“But I—”

“Trust me,” by which Isaac meant that Mason should worry. “Just a few days. Don’t ask.”

**˳̊ ¤ ˳̊ Ø ˳̊ ¤ ˳̊**

Mason woke up a couple of days later full of excitement. The previous night, just before dinner, Isaac had walked into the family pod with a big grin announcing that he had won four tickets to visit the low-G observation bay, which had been the most coveted attraction of the colony ever since its inauguration. Tickets were usually won in a colony lottery, and Mason guessed that Erica’s mother (who adored Isaac and was a great friend of the Hewitts) must have sorted it out. But Mason was not going to complain, because he was _dying_ to go there.

“Morning,” Mason greeted when he walked into the family room, already dressed and ready for the day.

“Morning, son,” Leonor said. “We thought we’d have breakfast in the canteen today?”

“Yeah, sure. Where’s Isaac?”

“He had to rush to the admin block,” his father said as he walked out of the bedroom, straightening his shirt. “I guess it has something to do with the tickets.”

Mason arched an eyebrow, suddenly remembering what Isaac had promised a few days before, and even if he was not sure about the how, he was very certain that the why to his brother’s morning escapade had to do with something other than the tickets.

“Who’s minding the shop?” he asked his father. Jeff Hewitt ran an appliance and computer shop on the Avenue.

“My new assistant,” his father said with a grin. “I think he just moved in from one of the outer systems.”

“Oh?” that was very interesting information. “Really?”

“Yeah. I think you’ll like him. He seems like a nice guy.”

“Jeff…” Mrs Hewitt intervened.

“Isaac has met him already,” his father continued. “He’s the one who put us in contact, in fact.”

“Okay, I’ve got to go now,” Mason rushed to the front door with a big smile on his face. How had he done it? Isaac was a genius!

“Wait! What about the observation bay?” his mother called him back. “And breakfast?” “I’ll be on time, I swear,” Mason replied, already out of the door.

“I just want to go and find Isaac! I’ll see you in the canteen. Love you, bye!”

The door slid shut behind him and he raced towards the Avenue. Mason had only been to the shop a couple of times, but he already knew the way. He ran down the ring, dodging people who yelled at him and jumping over cleaning robots that blocked his way.

By the time he reached the Communal Block, Mason was short of breath and sweating, and he cursed his anxiety and his urgency, so from the ring to the shop he walked, trying to calm down and make himself look presentable. By the time he had reached the third floor of the Market Block, where his father’s shop was, Mason was almost ready to see Corey again. He took a couple of deep breaths and loosened his shoulders. He practiced his smile a couple of times and tried to make his clothes look as if he had not run across half of the colony in them. When he was sure he could not do anymore, he walked towards the shop.

“Hello?” Mason called when he saw there was nobody in. “Is it open?”

“Coming!” a voice came from the back of the store, and Mason walked to the counter, his smile growing impossibly wider in anticipation. “Okay, hello, how may I help?”

Then the assistant walked out, and Mason’s smile dropped.

“Who are you?” he asked, his eyebrows wiggling quizzically.

“Who are you?” the other teen replied, slightly affronted. “I work here. What kind of question is that?”

“But you’re not _him_.”

“Him? Are you looking for Mr Hewitt? He’s off this morning.”

“I- I- I… emr… I’m his son?”

“No, you’re not,” the assistant snorted. “You can’t fool me – I know Isaac.”

“Wait, no. I’m his brother. Isaac’s brother. My dad is Jeff Hewitt,” Mason was trying to make sense of this situation. “I’m Mason.”

“Oh, well, nice to meet you!” the teenager smiled. “I’m Greenberg, I’m trying to get a mechanic apprenticeship, so your brother and I share a couple of classes.”

“I see…”

“Do you want me to call him?” Greenberg offered. “He’s not been here today.”

“No, sorry. Don’t worry. I’ll… I’ll call him.”

Mason walked out of his father’s shop with his head down. How could he have been so stupid? How could he just jump to the conclusion that Isaac had found Corey just like that? He growled at himself and walked down to the canteen, where he saw that his family was waiting for him.

“Hey, darling,” Leonor waved at him when she saw him. “Where did you go? I thought you went looking for Isaac?”

“I… I just went to the shop,” he admitted.

“Come on,” Isaac said. “Let’s have breakfast. I can’t wait to go to the OB!”

It was then that Mason noticed that Isaac was wearing his smuggest grin. He wanted to ask, but the taller teen just walked ahead looking for a table. While they ate their breakfast and their parents talked about colony business and colony gossip, Mason tried to decipher Isaac’s grin. He obviously knew about Greenberg, but had he planned everything? Had he really found Corey? By the time they had finished their breakfast Mason still had not had a chance to ask Isaac, and even as they queued outside the elevator that took them to the core, he still had no idea about what the smugness was all about. But then they reached the core and one of the station workmen checked their identities before letting them in on the elevator that took them to the Sun observation bay, and Mason’s focus shifted back to his original excitement.

“Ready?” Leonor asked, holding Mason’s hand and squeezing it as the elevator decelerated and they felt the first hints of low gravity.

“Yes,” Mason said, feeling his weight vanish and his expectation grow.

The elevator pinged and the doors opened, and Mason saw the observation room with its large transparent dome arching high above them. And, beyond, the immenseness of outer space, a black expanse turned into the darkest hue of blue by the distant light of the sun pierced by a million stars.

Mason was speechless.

Even with the thirty other lucky people who had won a slot for that morning floating around, sometimes obstructing his view, sometimes gently bumping into him, he did not mind. Nobody seemed to mind, in fact – everyone was starstruck, wooing in shared awe at the vastness of the heavens and the primeval beauty of the stars, which glowed and sparkled white, blue, red, and yellow. Mason was so lost in the stars and the weightlessness that he did not see Isaac pulling his parents away to a different corner of the OB, and he did not see someone floating closer to him.

“Hello again,” he heard someone say in a soft voice very close to him.

Mason tried to jump away, but it was a bit difficult in low gravity, so he only managed to spin uncontrollably until he felt two hands holding him, and slowing him down.

“H- hey, Corey,” Mason beamed. “I- I- I… what are you doing here?”

“Well, you remember Isaac, right?”

“Yeah?” Mason arched an eyebrow. “I think I remember him.” ( _And I may murder him later_ ).

“Well, I’m in the Peripheral Station Management Course,” he explained casually, still not letting go of Mason, so they were now slowly spinning with the stars behind them. “So Isaac and I are now in the same D1 course and he told me he had a spare ticket for today.”

“Did he now? That’s very nice of him… What were the chances?”

“I know right?” Corey smiled, and Mason could only see the stars reflected in his eyes.

“You know he’s my brother?” Mason had to admit, to Corey’s great surprise.

“Wait, what?”

“Yeah,” he nodded with a smile. He was still going to kill him later, though. “He’s my big foster brother.”

“Well, I’m glad he is.”

“Why?” Corey kept on smiling for a couple of seconds, both of them effortlessly spinning in the observation bay.

“Because I’m not sure I’d have found you in this station without him.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Something weent wrong with the copy-paste, I think so if there's anything wrong with the formatting please let me know!!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mason and Corey go through a number of 'firsts' as a couple: first date, fist kiss, first shovel talk, first meeting the parents.

“How do I look?”

“Fine.”

“No, but really; how about now?” Mason insisted after zipping his shirt a fraction lower than it had been.

“Yep. Still fine.”

“You’re not even looking!” Behind him, Mason heard his brother groan from his bed, where he was playing some sort of colony building game on his computer.

“Okay, I like the shirt, but don’t you have, like, a new one?”

“Unhelpful much? Why would I need a new one?” Mason now turned around to look at Isaac. He did not know why he had asked him anyways; his brother thought that a service scarf was all one needed for a successful date.

Mason had tried four different outfits and had been trying various combinations of trousers and shirts. Right now he had settled for dark green trousers and a light blue shirt, but he was a second away from stripping down and choosing a different outfit for the tenth time.

“Dunno,” he admitted with a shrug. “I think that looks nice. It definitely says ‘I’m trying to impress’ and at the same time it’s not too ‘this is my one good shirt that I save for special occasions’.”

"Urghhh…”

“Do you want me to ask Erica?” Isaac asked, arching an eyebrow. They both knew Erica would make a categorical decision and that would be it, but Mason found his brother’s friend a bit too intense sometimes…

“No, no. I’ll be fine with this,” he sighed, admitting defeat.

“Where are you two going?” Isaac asked with a smirk. “Do you want me to open one of the service corridors for you?”

“ _No_.” Isaac chuckled and shrugged.

“Fair enough. If you change your mind, I’ll be here.”

“Are you going to spend all your evening playing?” Mason was not impressed.

“Yup,” Isaac said as he landed heavily on the bed, crossed his legs, and began to tap buttons on his computer until the holoprojection was just under Mason’s bunk.

“Fine. I’ll see you later,” Mason gave up and decided to go as he was.

“If he steps over the line just buzz me and I’ll sort him out,” Isaac said casually, already lost in his game, but Mason wished he had not said it with so much nonchalance.

“Bye, Mom,” Mason said as he walked quickly across the family room, hoping to avoid his mother altogether. “I won’t be back for dinner.”

“Wait there, Mason Hewitt!” She called before Mason could reach the front door. “You’re looking very dapper today.”

“Mom, please… if you’re going to say anything can you do it quickly so I stop blushing in embarrassment by the time I meet Corey?”

“Oh, so he’s called Corey?” Leonor said walking towards the door. “Yes, Mom. And you knew that already,” he rolled his eyes, because Isaac could not keep his mouth shut at dinnertime.

“Where are you two going?”

“ _Mooom_.”

“Don’t give me that,” she insisted. “You’re going out with a boy I know nothing about even if I could pull his file out. The least I expect you to tell me is what your plans are. I also imagine that this dinner you’re going to is being paid with my money?”

“It’s _my_ allowance!” Mason huffed.

“Just tell me where you’re going, please?” Leonor said in a softer tone, and Mason had to give in.

“We’re going to the 4S holo at the entertainment block,” Mason had wanted to go and see the most recent quadruple-sensorial holofilm for a couple of weeks now, and now that he and Corey had a date it was the perfect opportunity. “Then we’re having dinner at the canteen.”

“Be home by eleven,” she reminded him, clearly approving of Mason’s plan.

“Yeah, yeah, I know… I’m not the one who comes back late.”

“Well, your brother is your brother, and you are you,” she said in that unmistakable motherly tone which meant that this was not a matter up for debate and that Isaac was not going to get away with that either. “And keep your buzzer on.”

“’kay…”

Mason went over to kiss his mother, who let him go with a warm smile and then, checking the time, dashed off.

After not-so-mysteriously coinciding in the observation bay, Mason and Corey had been exchanging messages for a few days. Mason even walked all the way to the other end of the Education Block to wait for Corey and Isaac as they got out of D1. Isaac then made a big point of asking Corey about things he thought Mason would like to know aloud, which Mason found both irritating and tremendously useful because Corey just smiled and answered all the questions. Now he knew that Corey was from the Neptune System, that he was an only child, and that his parents had only moved to the outer rim because his father had been relocated. But he seemed happy on Beacon H.

It had not been until a week after their re-encounter that Mason decided to ask him out on a real date. He had spent an entire night twisting and turning in his bed, to the point that Isaac kicked him from his bunk at one point.

“Ask him out or I swear to space I will ask him out for you.” Isaac had said.

“It’s not that,” Mason had admitted. “It’s that I don’t know how to phrase it."

“What about ‘Neptune is blue, the Earth is green, let’s go on a date’?”

“That doesn’t even rhyme.”

“It’s called factual free verse. Check it and go to sleep!”

“The Earth is green, Neptune is blue, let’s go on a date just me and you?”

“Mason!”

In the end Mason did not have to ask, because Corey took the first step, suggesting to meet outside the Entertainment Block just in time for the holofilm.

And, at the appointed time, Mason was there. He had walked all the way from Block A in a cloud. He was not nervous, but he was excited. The first moment he met Corey during the inauguration he had definitely felt something. There was something in Corey’s eyes and in his pointed chin that had immediately drawn Mason’s interest. But the more they spoke, the more he realised that they had the same humour, that they liked very similar things and that those things they disagreed on complemented each other surprisingly well. It was not just that Mason wanted to know more about Corey; he needed to.

“There you are!” Corey greeted him, and Mason, who had been lost in thought, almost jumped out of his skin. But he quickly recovered when he saw his date.

“Hey, Corey. I’m, er… I’m so happy you came,” he admitted with a shy smile.

“Why wouldn’t I come?” Corey asked.

“I don’t know. I… well. I knew you were coming,” he was quick to reassure. “But it’s just… something happened to my brother once.”

“Isaac?”

“Yeah,” Mason did not want to talk about what had happened between Isaac and Gabe because it made his blood boil, and he had no reason to fear Corey would do the same; but still, the way in which Gabe had packed and disappeared one day had left a thin layer of fear even on him. “But enough about him. I… erm… you look very handsome?”

“Thanks,” Corey beamed at him. “You too,” he complimented back, and Mason felt his cheeks warm up. “Are you ready?”

“Yes, I have been waiting to watch this holo for weeks! Because I’ve heard that—what’s funny?” he asked when he noticed mid-explanation that Corey was grinning and shaking his head.

“Because I’ve planned something else.”

“What something else?”

“Something better than a holofilm.”

**˳̊ ¤ ˳̊ Ø ˳̊ ¤ ˳̊**

“Ready?” Corey asked as he expertly fastened his outsuit. “Or do you need a hand?”

“I can do it,” Mason said as he checked the heating and oxygen indicators.

“Have you put one of these on before?”

“We had to practice as part of the safety procedures of the Talia,” he explained. “So yes, I have.”

“But you’ve never been out then?”

“No?” Mason admitted.

“Don’t worry, I have,” Corey smiled reassuringly. “Just stay by me.”

The light in the airlock changed from white to orange, and a klaxon beeped twice. The controller asked them to confirm status over their buzzers, and Corey and Mason looked at the camera and gave her the thumbs up. The orange light changed to red, and the air was sucked out of the room.

Mason instinctively scooted closer to Corey until they were standing shoulder to shoulder, and then the klaxon honked again, the light turned green, and the front door opened with a muted hiss. Mason was staring at the door behind and almost missed Corey stepping out, and when he looked forward he could see his date leaving the airlock into the outside, but Mason could not follow because he froze in awe.

“Welcome to Vinland!” Corey’s voice came through Mason’s helmet. “Are you not going to come out?”

Mason nodded, unable to speak, as he took a few steps forward out of the airlock and onto the surface of the planetoid. Beacon H was the name of the colony, but Vinland was the name of the planetoid to which it was anchored. Even if it was not a real space elevator like those existing elsewhere in the Solar System, it was possible to take a robotised shuttle from the colony down to the anchor.

The surface of the planetoid was of little economic interest, and even if it was covered in frozen lakes of tholins, it was structurally inadvisable to mine those (and when Erica suggested that, Isaac almost had an aneurism). That had left Vinland largely untouched except for a couple of surface facilities and the visitor centre, which was little more than a room with a few panels leading to the airlock, from where it was possible to walk on a clearly-delimited path on the surface.

Mason took a first step and soon felt his magnetised boots stick to the metal grid that marked the path.

“Whoa,” was all he could say as he looked around. In front of him he could see the surface of Vinland, covered in craters filled with tholin lakes. There were also cracks and scars on the dusty surface and that contrasted sharply against the very near, curved horizon. Beyond was the cosmos, the black universe cluttered with stars. Behind him was the anchor that kept his home in place and, in the distance, a cold and tiny sun that nevertheless filled their view with light.

“Pretty, isn’t it?”

“It is!”

“Isaac mentioned it in class,” Corey explained, reaching out with his hand to Mason and leading him down the trail. “He didn’t seem very happy about the idea of going down to the surface, but he said you’d probably like it.”

“I wanted to take you to the holofilm,” Mason excused himself lamely as they advanced down the path with the clink-clank of their boots against the path. “But I think I’ll let you choose all our dates from now on?”

“That’s good to know,” Corey chuckled. “That you plan to go on more.”

“Of course!”

“Come on,” Corey nodded with his head. “Let’s go and see how far this path goes.”

Only then did Mason notice that he had been holding Corey’s hand all along. He felt his cheeks heat up and his stomach do a funny churn, so he completely missed what Corey was telling him about his course. Mason had to ask him to repeat all again, which Corey did gladly.

Ten minutes later they reached a fork in the path, where they bumped into a family that was also visiting the surface. Apparently the path there went off on a long loop that ended back at that same spot. As they walked along it, Mason and Corey had a chance to speak of everything, although Mason was quite concerned when he found out that Corey did not really have any friends on Beacon H.

“How is that possible?” Mason asked. “What about Isaac?”

“I’m sure you know, but your brother is not the easiest person to be around.”

“I know,” Mason rolled his eyes. “He can be a nightmare, but that’s only until you really know him.”

“I think that he decides who gets to know him and who doesn’t.”

“But what about the rest of the people in your course?” Mason diverted the conversation, because Corey was right, but he didn’t have the energy or the will to explain the details.

“I don’t know…” the Neptunian said, walking ahead and hanging his head. “It seemed as if most of them already knew each other,” he explained.

“Most of them came together, either on the _Talia_ or the other colony ships.”

“There weren’t many people our age on ours. And, I don’t know? I kind of miss my friends back on Triton.”

“I can understand that,” Mason agreed. He had left a few good friends behind in the Jupiter System and a large number of cousins too. But he had been so excited about moving to the frontier that he had not really minded. “But maybe I could introduce you to some of my friends? Have you met Erica and Boyd? They’re good friends with Isaac, even if they’re a bit older than us.”

“Erica Reyes? She is on the peripheral station program as well,” Corey said, arching an eyebrow. “But she’s scary.”

“I’ll grant you that!”

“There’s also that my dad is not really happy here,” Corey confessed in a low voice.

“What has that got to do with this?”

“I… well. _He_ never really wanted to come. We came here only because he was relocated. So I don’t know for how long he’s going to be deployed here. So maybe I don’t want to make many friends.”

“You’re leaving?” Mason almost screamed in surprise. It was too early for him to feel attached, but the thought of missing the opportunity to get to know Corey better made his heart ache.

“No!” Corey tried to reassure him. “Not yet. Not in a long while, at least.”

Corey had not denied Mason’s accusation – he may be leaving if his family moved away to the inner systems.

“Well… when will you know?” Mason was beginning to panic. This was going to be like Gabe and Isaac all over again.

“Mason, calm down,” Corey tried to be reassuring. “It won’t be for a long time.”

“Why did you ask me out then?” Mason asked with sadness. He was hurt, but it was an accusation.

“Because I may still find a reason why to stay behind?” he asked, reaching again for Mason’s hand.

Mason stood there for a couple of silent seconds, standing at the edge of the Solar System, held down to the ground of that planetoid by the magnets in his boots and the sheer weight of his thoughts.

“I’d like that,” he concluded with a smile. “We can see if we can find you one reason.”

**˳̊ ¤ ˳̊ Ø ˳̊ ¤ ˳̊**

After the excitement of the walk on Vinland and dinner in the canteen, Corey and Mason sat on one of the benches of the Avenue as the lighting dimmed to the artificial night time they were familiar with.

“Do you miss real nights?” Mason asked with curiosity as they people-watched.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, back on Jupiter we had artificial lights in the colony, right? But we went around the planet every forty hours,” he explained. “When we were behind it, we didn’t get any sunlight into the domes. Not that people really paid much attention because we really kept Terran time, but when colony-night coincided with Terran-night, dunno?”

Mason shrugged his shoulders, not really knowing how else to express what he felt. It was something very personal, something that not that many people bothered to pay attention to, but there was, for him, something magical when the enforced darker hours of the colony coincided with the natural dark hours they got when the planet eclipsed the sun. Those occasions always made him imagine that he could be on Earth.

“Well, Triton’s locked on Neptune, and it takes five Earth-days to orbit it. And the Sun’s really far away, so it does not matter much. I mean, at least I never noticed when it happened.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, you may have noticed already that I’m not a big astronomy nerd,” Corey joked, gently nudging Mason with his elbow.

“I don’t mind,” Mason smiled. “I’ve got Isaac for that.”

“I like that in you, though. You are genuinely into it with passion,” that made Mason blush. “I wish I could be so passionate about something.”

“You don’t have a favourite game? Or a secret hobby?”

“Not really,” he admitted as he leant forward, his elbows on his knees. In the Avenue people walked up and down, leaving the canteen after a late dinner, or heading into the Entertainment Block to continue with their night out.

“So what do you do when you’re not studying or eating? I’ve seen you go to the exercise room.”

“I do that, yeah, but I like to come here,” Corey answered simply. “You’ll be surprised how easy it is to pass unnoticed, just observing…”

Mason scrunched his face. “What about when you were back on Triton? Is there anything you used to do there that you miss?”

“I miss being with my friends,” Corey admitted, unable to mask the sadness in his voice. “I’d mostly let them talk. I was happy just to listen. Each week they all would have a favourite game, or there would be a new holo. And sure, I’d watch it or play with them, but for me it was about being all together. I… I can’t really do that here.”

“You’ve got me,” Mason offered, and Corey turned around to look at him, making Mason’s smile grow wider. “I’d like to do more things together. Even if it’s just sitting here and watching.”

“You’d get bored of that,” Corey said, casually putting his hand on Mason’s knee, and Mason felt a jolt of electricity running all the way up his spine, forcing him to take a sharp breath.

“I don’t think I would,” Mason beamed, leaning closer, now shoulder to shoulder and speaking softly, almost in a whisper. “You’d be there too. We’d find something to do.”

Corey turned his head, and their eyes locked. Mason could feel his heart throbbing, his pulse loud in his ears. Corey was biting his lips, and Mason felt his throat dry. Then he felt Corey’s hand searching for his. He looked down and saw that their fingers were laced together, and when he looked up again, Corey’s face was only a few centimetres away.

While his brain struggled to find something to say, some other part of his body took control. Mason noticed his eyes closing and his head inching forward, and when everything was dark and when he could only hear his own heart thumping, he felt the kiss.

It was short, and sweet, and he noticed how their lips curled, so when he pulled away and opened his eyes, he saw Corey beaming, radiating absolute happiness.

Mason was about to say something, but this time it was Corey who brought his hands to Mason’s shoulders to pull him for another kiss, and he stopped worrying.

**˳̊ ¤ ˳̊ Ø ˳̊ ¤ ˳̊**

The next few weeks passed in a rosy blur. They were both busy with classes (and, on top of the full curriculum, Mason was also busy with his astronomy lab work), but they still managed to squeeze a couple of hours each day to do something together. Sometimes it was something as simple as staying together to study, some others it was lunch in the canteen, or a walk down the ring. They also spent far too many hours in the games section of the Entertainment Block. One day, eventually, Mason took Corey to watch the 4S holofilm he had been dying to see. Sometimes they just sat at the same bench and silently watched the colonists come and go, hands laced.

A month after their first date, Mason decided to take Corey out for a special meal, and they were almost ready to order when they were interrupted by an overly-friendly Isaac.

“Hey, Mason. Hey, Corey,” Isaac asked with a big grin on his face. In Mason’s opinion it was too big. That could only mean something: Isaac was up to something.

“Hey Isaac,” Corey welcomed him. “Grab a seat, we were about to order.”

“Unless you have somewhere else to be?” Mason squinted at him.

“Oh, _thank you,_ Corey,” Isaac ignored his brother as he sat down. “That’s very nice of you. I think I will sit with you for a bit.”

“Sure, are you hungry?”

“No, he’s not,” Mason said firmly, trying to shove Isaac out of his chair by pushing him with his elbow, but Isaac would not move, and he managed to push Mason instead. “Isaac!”

“Oh, thanks, Mason, why don’t you go and get me a portion of cheesy chips, now that you’re up?”

“You shoved me.”

“Guys, you know we can just order through the pad?” Corey asked, aware that something was going on, but not confident still with both brothers to interrupt.

“No need,” Isaac said smirking at Corey, _definitely_ ignoring Mason. “Mason is happy to go and get them, right?”

“What are you up to?” Mason said, getting tired of Isaac’s shiftiness.

“Can’t I just have a quiet conversation with your boyfriend?” he asked with all his fake innocence. To his credit, Isaac even batted his eyelashes.

“Really?” Mason deadpanned. “You of all people?” he said with unnecessary brashness. Mason knew that Isaac was perhaps the last person on that station to go around giving shovel talks. He also knew what Isaac had gone through, but he was getting tired of this charade very quickly.

“Okay,” Isaac said, turning to Corey and ignoring Mason again, who rolled his eyes and huffed. “Since your boyfriend here has decided to put all the cards on the table, I need to tell you something, Corey. I think I like you,” he admitted, and Mason saw Corey’s face turn with pleased surprise. “But I like Mason more, because he’s my best friend.”

Mason winced internally; he knew about Isaac’s older brother, but he still did not understand why it was so difficult for him to admit that they were also brothers.

“Isaac, please drop it,” he said when he saw how Isaac’s shoulders were squaring with tension.

“No, not yet,” he insisted, putting his hands firmly on the table. “As Mason has pointed out I’m not the right person to talk about who dates who. But I’ve had one very nasty experience and I don’t want him to go through that.”

“Really, stop it,” Mason insisted.

“No, Mase,” Isaac said sharply, looking firmly down at the table rather than at Mason. Then, after a pause, he looked up at Corey again. “Look, Mason is… he’s… he’s my family now and—”

“Isaac…” Mason felt touched at the admission, if only it had been in a different conversation…

“If I find out you’ve… that is, if you…” Isaac was trying to sound intimidating, and he was even pointing at Corey with one menacing finger, but it was evident there was no heat behind that threat. “I’ll come and—”

“Okay, may I say something?” Corey said before Isaac said something stupid, and Mason was extremely relieved. His brother’s heart may have been in the right place, but he doubted very much he really meant whatever threat he was going to say. And had he said it, he was sure Isaac would have immediately regretted it.

They nodded, and Mason saw all the tension that had suddenly accumulated in Isaac’s body diffuse into the air.

“Listen, I don’t have a close family like you two have,” he continued, and Mason suddenly realised that they did. Even Isaac, despite his reticence, was part of it. “I have no brothers and no cousins, and my parents are… well. They are there at least. That’s one of the things I like the most about you, Mason. And Isaac, I know not to mess with you. But you have to believe that I wouldn’t do anything to hurt Mason… Not on purpose, at least,” he added, as an afterthought.

“Are you happy now?” Mason reproached Isaac, still standing up. His guilt-ridden brother simply nodded in silence. “Okay,” he huffed and sat down, patting Isaac’s shoulder now that the crisis was aborted.

“You guys came for a meal, I think,” Isaac said, standing up as soon as Mason sat, and avoiding eye contact. “I’m sorry I barged in, and I… Corey, I’m sorry.”

“Wait,” Mason called before Isaac got too far. “Stay for food? And get to see that Corey is not a total frozeball?”

“We don’t use that word, Mase,” Corey said with a smirk, looking at Isaac, and Mason could have melted into a warm pool of content goo there, seeing how he cared not only about him, but also about Isaac.

“I’ll get you cheesy chips,” Mason concluded, and everyone agreed.

“To be fair,” Corey added when Isaac looked up at the mention of food. “Those are my favourites.”

Then Mason saw something click in place behind Isaac’s eyes, and the too-friendly wide grin he had worn earlier returned.

“With green Triton sauce?” Isaac queried with his eyes wide open, as if he had suddenly made a mental connection.

“Green Triton sauce is a _must_ ,” Corey agreed, to Mason’s disgust.

“You Icers are gross. How can you even eat that? It’s salted vegetable mush. It’s not even _spicy_.”

Then, and in silence, Isaac walked very purposefully around the table to sit on the bench next to Corey, facing Mason.

“Tough luck,” he said once he was sat. “Triton green it is.”

“I think I preferred it when you were about to punch him,” Mason groaned as he dropped his head on the table.

**˳̊ ¤ ˳̊ Ø ˳̊ ¤ ˳̊**

“Why are you so nervous?” Corey asked, putting his hands on Mason’s shoulders and giving them a squeeze.

Two weeks had passed since Isaac interrupted what was meant to be a romantic date for two and turned it into an unexpected afternoon of bonding together. Right now, they were at the ‘village pump’ of Block A, the intersection between the residential quarters and the ring where the elevator to the core was located. The station’s AI was delivering some message about the upcoming fish festival now that the first harvest was imminent, but Mason was hyperventilating about something entirely different.

“I don’t know,” Mason admitted, chuckling unnecessarily and raking his fingers through his head. “I- I- I’m just nervous.”

Corey then shifted his hands, so his fingers were on Mason’s neck and his thumbs were softly rubbing his jaw.

“There’s no reason to be. I’ve met them before.”

“Only briefly,” Mason said. “It was, like, for a second in the observation dome.”

“Isaac will be there,” Corey added hopefully.

“You say that as if that were a good thing.”

“They’re your parents.”

“That’s why I’m so nervous! I’ve never had to introduce a boyfriend to them…”

“Relax,” Corey smiled before pulling Mason in for a kiss. “Everything will be okay.”

“Are you sure?” Mason blurted when they pulled apart. “Because we can still cancel and postpone it and—”

Corey rolled his eyes and walked away, marching straight towards the Hewitts’ cabin, leaving his boyfriend behind.

“I’ll have dinner with them then. You can stay here.”

“Wait!” Mason called for Corey, but when his boyfriend saw him getting closer, he broke into a run, cackling as he did so. Mason gritted his teeth and ran after him, but by the time he reached Corey they were already outside the family pod.

“Come on, it’ll be fine,” Corey smiled as he successfully regained his breath.

“Earth, you’re annoying…” Mason leant against the wall.

“Any last piece of advice?” Corey smiled as he casually adjusted Mason’s shirt.

Mason bit his lip for a second before speaking. “Do _not_ mention Uranus.”

That was a very long story and a conversation topic that could easily go oortwards. Corey did not understand, because he knew that Isaac was Mason’s foster brother, but they had never discussed how he had ended up with the Hewitts. But before Corey could ask, the door slid open.

“Hey, you two, come on in,” Mr Hewitt said. “Hi, Corey, nice to meet you again.”

“Nice to meet you too,” Corey was all smiles as he shook hands with his father.

“Hey, Dad.”

Jeff let the two teens in and led them to the family room, where Isaac and Mrs Hewitt were setting the table.

“Hi, Isaac. Hi, Mrs Hewitt.”

“Just call me Leonor,” Mason’s mother insisted, and Mason calmed down a peg. “We have got hold of some fish from the aquiculture bays,” she said with pride. “I hope you like it.”

“I’m sure it will be delicious,” Corey said politely.

“I was not sure you were going to make it,” Isaac muttered through a smirk when he approached Corey to shake his hand. “I’m surprised he didn’t chicken out,” he added, nodding at Mason.

“I’m here, you asteroid,” Mason retorted.

“And I’m happy that you are!” his brother said.

“Is he going to start telling embarrassing stories about you?” Corey stage whispered, half-smiling.

“Oh, he would not dare,” Mason replied, glaring at Isaac, who simply winked and walked away to sit at the table.

“Of course, he won’t,” Mason’s father said, appearing suddenly behind them. “That’s _my_ job,” he added, clicking his tongue and patting his son’s shoulder.

“Earth…” Mason palmed his face.

Despite his father’s threats and the unsettling feeling that Isaac was up to something, Mason survived that dinner. In fact, the entire evening was a great success to Mason’s relief. Corey was his absolute charming self, complimenting his mother for her cooking, asking questions about his father’s shop. Isaac talked about the course and how he was getting on, and he even mentioned the joint project he, Corey, and Boyd were going to be working together on, which gave Corey an opportunity to explain what he was doing. His parents did not bring up any embarrassing stories, and seemed genuinely happy.

After their meal was over, Isaac brought out to the table a large tray of some sort of Uranian rice-based pudding that Mason had never seen before.

“I did this,” he said proudly. “Mostly for Corey, you know. So he comes around more often…” he admitted, and his cheeks blushed.

“Thanks, Isaac,” Corey was genuinely impressed. “That makes me a bit home sick!”

“What’s that?” Mason _had_ to ask.

“It’s an Icer treat,” Isaac snapped. “That’s what it is.”

“Try it, Mase,” Corey insisted. “We call it ice bake. It’s sweet and stodgy.”

“While you argue, I am going to have some,” Mr Hewitt said, scooping a generous portion out of the tray. “Thank you, Isaac.”

Mason ended up having two servings.

An hour later the table had been cleared away and the conversation was slowly dying out. That seemed to indicate that the dinner was officially over, so with a huff and a smile Mason and Corey stood up.

“Thank you very much,” Corey said again. “I had an amazing dinner.”

“Thank you for coming,” Leonor said. “It was good to see you again.”

“Especially after hearing about you non-stop for a month,” Isaac added with a wink, only to wind Mason up.

“Well, I was thinking I could walk Corey home, so… so we’ll get going.”

“Fine,” his mother sighed. “But remember to be home—”

“By eleven, yes, Mom, I know.”

Leonor and Jeff walked the couple to the front door, while behind them Isaac pulled gross faces as he pretended to kiss an invisible person. Corey chuckled, but Mason glared at him, but they just waved everyone goodbye and walked out.

“Urg…” Mason pressed his back against the wall and sighed the moment the door slid shut. An unexpected wave of relief washed down his body.

“That wasn’t half bad, was it?” Corey smiled.

“That was the most stressful dinner of my life,” Mason said with a big smile.

“But it’s over. And it was a success,” his boyfriend offered, cocking his head to the side as he reached for Mason’s hand.

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Mason let Corey pull him towards him until they were in each other’s arms. “Did you see Isaac? I’m the one who has to sleep with him tonight. He’s going to be all smug and annoying…”

“He baked you a dessert.”

“He did that for you.”

“I don’t think you’re being fair.”

“My dad at least was nice?”

“Both your parents were great.”

“They really liked you,” Mason said with a big smile just before he gave Corey a quick peck. “Did you see the way my mom looked at you when you were explaining that thing about subsidiary stations?”

“That is a very sexy topic,” Corey joked.

“I haven’t seen my mom look at anyone like that,” Mason said.

“So, are you happy?” Corey asked.

“I am,” Mason kissed him once again, tightening their hug. “Thank you so much for doing this.”

“Anything for my boyfriend,” Corey added, just before kissing him again.

Then Mason stood there, still outside his family’s door, in Corey’s arms after a hearty dinner and a pleasant evening. Earlier that day he had not been sure why he was so nervous, but now he understood: it was all good and fine to have a boyfriend to go for meals, play games, chat until stupid hours in the morning and make out, but he cared about Corey beyond that. Corey was becoming a very close friend, and he was terrified about the idea of his family saying something, or seeing some flaw in him; something that would make them say that he better stay away from him. Of course, those had been baseless fears, and there could only be one reason why he cared so much.

“I love you,” Mason beamed.

“I love you too,” Corey said back, and Mason felt a warm sensation flooding his chest when he heard it.

“You do?”

“Yes, of course!” and, to prove it, Corey pulled Mason in for another kiss, although this time it felt different, almost as if a kiss could gain extra meaning. Mason could feel Corey’s hands on his back, and even if he wanted to keep kissing him all night long, Mason pulled apart and buried his face in Corey’s shoulder.

“What’s wrong?” Corey asked softly.

“Nothing is wrong; everything is right,” Mason said, hugging Corey tighter. “I don’t know why I was so terrified of this happening?”

But Corey did not say a thing. He just held Mason, tenderly tracing circles on his back with his finger.

“Come on,” Corey said when Mason finally pushed himself away. “Let’s go before Isaac decides to come out looking for you.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Corey is very nervous, because he has some bad news for Mason.

_**A couple of years later**_  
Corey waited outside the door to the Hewitts’ cabin as he pressed the bell button. In the last two years, the Neptunian had almost become one more member of the Hewitt family, to the extent that he was there almost every Saturday for their shared family meal. This time, however, and for the first time in a long while, Corey was feeling anxious about his visit and the news he had for his boyfriend. How was he going to break it? Should he wait or should he tell him right away?

He did not have much time to think about that any further because Leonor soon opened the door and greeted him with a big smile.

“Hi,” he said timidly.

“Hey, darling. Come in,” she offered.

“I… I can wait here if Mason’s not ready?”

“Nonsense!” she insisted. “Come on in. Mason is… actually, I don’t know what he’s doing. Mason?” she shouted

“Give me a minute!” came Mason’s reply from his room.

“Oh, that’s okay,” he said. “I’ll just wait in the living room?”

“Do you want a tea or something?” she offered.

“I’m fine,” he replied. This time he did not want to stay longer than necessary there.

“Be careful with Isaac, though,” she warned with a wry smile. “He may bite.”

With that Mrs Hewitt disappeared back into her home office and the teenager walked to the family room, where Isaac was nose-deep in notes while a very detailed holoprojection of a space station flickered above his head.

“Hey, Isaac,” he offered, but this was only met with a groan. “Oh, sorry.”

“That’s alright,” Isaac huffed as he pushed himself back in his chair.

“Is that for your grey scarf?”

Isaac was still trying to become an engineer, a rank that was marked by a grey scarf, but he was stuck as a mechanic 2nd class. Rather than struggle through the mechanic ranks, he was determined to pass the theoretical examinations and change careers directly. The Hewitts and Corey knew how much that mattered to Isaac, and also how much he had been studying for that.

“Hopefully.”

“Why are you not in the learning block?”

“I’m keeping very odd hours,” he admitted. Corey guessed from the odd combination of blankets, empty coffee mugs, and leftover sandwiches that Isaac was not following normal colony hours. “And Leonor does not mind as far as I clear up for mealtimes.”

Corey snorted at that.

“What’s your brother doing?” he wanted to know, getting more nervous by the minute.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Isaac stood up and stretched his back, which made an awful cracking noise. “Something nerdy.”

“You’re the one with a space station projected onto your face,” Corey defended his boyfriend, although he knew that was just Isaac’s and Mason’s banter.

“How were your exams?” Isaac changed topic.

“I don’t know just yet,” he admitted, and that was only part of his current anxiety. Corey had sat his qualifying examinations for his Peripheral Station Management Course a few days before and, depending on the results, he would be allowed to start his two-year placement before getting his full qualification.

“Well, I’m sure you’ll do great.”

“Hey!” Mason said, erupting into the living room and going towards Corey to claim a kiss. “I’m sorry, I was just getting ready.”

Corey noticed how well-dressed Mason was, with a two-coloured shirt and shiny, new shoes. He, however, had not dressed up for the occasion, considering what he had come to tell him. Mason did not seem to mind, though.

“Ready for what?” Isaac asked nosily.

“Ready for none of your business,” Mason snapped, and his foster brother simply rolled his eyes. “Shall we go?”

“Sure,” Corey said, forcing a smile. “Bye, Leonor!” he said when they reached the door. “Bye, Isaac.”

“Bye, boys!” Mason’s mother called. “Have a good time!”

“Shall we?” Mason asked before opening the door. Corey nodded, mechanically, and he let Mason lead the way.

Mason led the way from Block A to the Communal Block. He kept on talking about his latest observation project, but Corey could only nod and smile whilst nervously clenching and unclenching his fists inside his pockets. Too many thoughts were filling his head, all of them trying to find the right way of telling his boyfriend that his family was going to move.

“Mase,” Corey eventually interrupted his boyfriend mid-sentence. Mason looked at him with a puzzled smile. “Let’s sit down.”

“Why can’t we wait ‘til we’re in the canteen?”

“I… erm… Mason, we need to talk.”

“Oh,” Mason said, not knowing what it was all about, but understanding the implications of that phrase.

“Please?” Corey pleaded when Mason would not move. “Can we sit down?”

**˳̊ ¤ ˳̊ Ø ˳̊ ¤ ˳̊**

There were at least seven simultaneous thoughts running through Mason’s head when he heard his boyfriend tell him that they needed to talk. One of them involved that guy in Corey’s course, the one who was always in a sleeveless shirt. Another involved some cataclysmic emergency back on Neptune. The rest were ludicrously improbable like an abnormally dangerous Oort storm, but none of them were good: nothing good came out of a conversation that began with ‘we need to talk’.

“Can we sit down?” Corey said with a sad smile, snapping Mason from his thoughts.

“What’s wrong?” was the only thing he could think of as they sat. The fact that Corey did not immediately deny that something was wrong only made him feel worse.

“Okay, erm… so, you remember when we first met?” Corey said, holding Mason’s hand.

“Yeah…?” Mason assented, but there were many things from those days to remember. “Oh,” then the penny dropped. “Your parents?”

Corey nodded quietly, avoiding eye contact, but not letting go of Mason’s hand.

When they first met Corey had told Mason that his family had relocated here because his father had been deployed to Beacon H, largely against his wishes. Corey had never hidden this from Mason, but a part of him had always wanted to forget about it, because they were so happy together. Of course, it was also true that not once in those two years had Corey mentioned anything about his parents being happy in the Outer Rim – if anything, every time Mason had met the Bryants, he had got the impression that they disliked living there.

“My dad has been redeployed,” Corey admitted.

“Where?” Mason asked when his boyfriend left the sentence unfinished. Ultima Thule and Makemake were not that far away, after all, and there were numerous smaller stations and colonies developing in the Kuiper Belt. Surely they could make it work?

“Hermes…”

Hermes was the main control station around Mercury, where the network of Dyson solar panels that harvested energy for the inner planets was monitored. If Beacon H was the furthest colony from the Sun, Hermes was the closest one.

Mason felt like a jug of ice water had been poured on him.

“Are you…” Mason was not ready to ask. But he had to.

Then Corey pulled his hand away from Mason’s, and Mason felt a lump forming in his throat.

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Mason snapped.

“I told you this could happen,” Corey tried to explain, but that was not what Mason wanted to hear.

“Corey, you’re telling me you are going to fucking _Mercury_!”

“I don’t _know_ if I am going to Mercury,” Corey insisted.

“And how is that any different?”

Then Corey looked up, his eyes red and pooling with tears. “Because I don’t want to.”

“So what?” Mason was angry, and sad. And confused. He was mostly overwhelmed. “Are you going to stay or not?”

Mason swallowed hard and reached out for Corey’s hand, trying to pry an answer from Corey.

“It depends…”

“Depends on what?” Mason needed to know; he could not let the last two years come to nothing just like that. “You want to stay, right?” he asked with hope.

“Of course, I want to. I want to stay with you,” Corey admitted, and Mason felt pleasantly relieved for a second.

“What’s the problem then? Your parents won’t let you?” that could be an option – an outdated, weird option, but Icers could be weird like that. Isaac had made a couple of muttered comments in that aspect about what his dad would have said.

“It’s not that… It’ll depend on my results.”

“You’ll ace your tests,” Mason said with confidence.

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that…”

Qualification examinations were fiendishly difficult – Mason knew that from his own and Isaac’s experiences.

“Why are you suddenly so worried about your exams? You were very confident when you sat them!”

Mason saw his boyfriend huff.

“Because if I fail my exams, I won’t be able to get a job to stay here,” Corey admitted.

“Don’t be stupid,” Mason said, getting closer to Corey, and throwing an arm around his boyfriend’s shoulder. At least now he could understand what the real problem was. “You can still get a job! You can work in the shop with my dad? Or help Boyd with the agrobots. There are always job opportunities in the Outer Rim, and that will give you time to prepare your exams again.”

“But there’s only one job I want,” Corey said, resting his head on Mason’s shoulder. “And if I miss this chance I may miss it for good.”

“And what job is that?” Mason chuckled. “What’s your dream job?”

“I want to be the station controller in the observatory,” he admitted. “When it’s finished at least.”

“Why that job in particular?” Mason could not understand why his boyfriend would want that very specific job for a sub-station that was not even built.

“Because you’ll be the astronomer there once it’s done,” Corey looked up, giving Mason a sad smile. “Because you’re the best astronomer this side of the Moon. And I want to live there with you, even in that last corner of the Kuiper Belt. And sub-station controller is the only job there I could possibly aspire to.”

Mason could not help it, and he pulled Corey in for a warming kiss, soft and full of love, because he had no words to convey what he felt right then better. Corey was willing to sign up voluntarily to be a second-rank administrator of an orbital sub-station only to be with him?

“There’s no chance that you will fail your exams,” Mason decided, and that was final. “Because I will need you controlling that observatory once it’s built, because otherwise Commander Hale can forget about me going there.”

“Mase, you can’t do that,” Corey was quick to say. “You will be the astronomer there. This will be your best opportunity. That’s the job that you have always wanted – even before I met you!”

“It’ll be pointless to live in a remote observatory floating in the Outer Rim if you are not going to be there with me.”

They looked into each other’s eyes, making a silent oath that they would go together to that observatory. They had no alternative options; no Plan B. They would pilot that telescope station together.

**˳̊ ¤ ˳̊ Ø ˳̊ ¤ ˳̊**

A week later, Mason and Corey were walking hand in hand towards Block B. A couple of hours prior they had received the exam results and, unsurprisingly, Corey had passed. While he had not come first in his class, Corey had ended high enough in the final rank to be able to choose where he wanted his placement to be. Most of his classmates fought for a place in the mining or electric stations, where it was easier to climb up the colony ladder, but the chance always existed that someone preferred the easy and quiet job of the observatory. Thankfully, Corey did not have to worry about that anymore, since he had already filed his request and it had been approved.

The next thing that Corey had to do was to tell his parents.

“Don’t be nervous, handsome,” Mason whispered into his boyfriend’s ear. “I’m here with you.”

“I love you,” Corey said as he squeezed Mason’s hand and gave him a smile.

“I love you too.”

“But I don’t think my parents will be thrilled about this.”

“You’ve passed your exams. You’re an adult. You have a future here,” Mason tried to reassure his boyfriend.

“They’re still my parents…” Corey insisted. He was only twenty, and had never lived on his own. A week-long trip to Ultima Thule with Mason, Isaac, Boyd, and Erica did not count as living independently.

“It’ll be alright,” Mason leant in to give him a quick kiss.

They walked silently after that, and when they reached the village pump of Block B Corey had to sit down to take a deep breath. After a short while Mason pulled Corey up and, with a sly smile, pushed his boyfriend back up and dragged him to his home. With a deep sigh, Corey opened the door.

“Mum, Dad,” he called.

“Hi, Corey, Hi, Mason,” Mrs Bryant said with her thick Neptunian accent. “How are you doing?”

“We’re okay,” Corey answered for both of them. “Where’s dad?”

“You okay, son?” his father said from the living room.

Then Corey took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a second. Mrs Bryant looked at her son with a puzzled frown, but she had no time to ask, since Corey blurted a torrent of words.

“I’vepassedmyexamsandI’vegotaplacementheresoI’mnotgoingtoMercury.”

There was a tense pause. Mr Bryant turned off whatever he was watching and walked to the entrance hall, from where Corey had yet to move.

“Sorry, love,” Mrs Bryant put down on the table whatever she had in her hand. “I- I- I didn’t quite catch that.”

“You’re staying behind?” Corey’s father said, not beating around the bush.

“Mum, Dad,” Corey’s accent thickened now that he was getting nervous and defensive. “I passed my exams, and I was in the top ten of the year, so I can pick my placement, a- a- and I think I can start a career here.”

Mason listened to this without saying anything. Not that he felt he could say much, though: Mrs Bryant was already looking at him directly, not accusingly, but acknowledging that he was the reason her son was staying in the Kuiper Belt.

“There are good chances for promotion here,” Corey continued, only-half lying. “And the jobs here are secure, with the growing colony and the—”

“You don’t need to excuse yourself, son,” Mr Bryant said, his moustache twisting as he wriggled his lip. “You have done well for yourself, finding this job.”

“And we always knew you’d do great in your course,” his wife added, slightly more emotional.

“But you’re going off to Mercury?” Corey was not sure if his parents had really got the gist of his speech. “And I’ll be staying here, without you.”

“Such is the way of Spacemen,” Mr Bryant said with gravitas, as if admitting that this was an inevitable part of life in space – the kind of statement Mason knew Isaac would love to hear; something taken from the Book of Icer Wisdom that had more to do with their approach to life than about useful bits of wisdom.

“You… You’re not mad?” Corey was confused.

“We’re not best pleased,” his mother walked towards him and held his hands in hers. “But we understand that you have got your new life here.”

“You’re going to Mercury!” Corey was now slightly affronted at his parents’ reaction.

“Mercury won’t be home,” his father said. “Just like this won’t be home.”

“But… but…”

“Come here, son,” Mr Bryant stepped forward, arms open. Mason saw his boyfriend letting go of his mother’s hand and rub his eye before walking into his father’s embrace.

“You’ll take good care of our son,” Mrs Bryant asked Mason, and he had to admit that he had not once expected this meeting to go the way it did.

Mason had expected Corey’s parents to go mad; to shout and be angry; to be sad about their stubborn son. He had even prepared a few lines to throw at them, about how good their son was at his job, and about how they had no right to take their son with them because he was an adult. In all fairness, Corey’s parents had never seemed very involved or concerned with him; Mason could have described them as detached and even cold, but maybe he had just got it all wrong. He had never expected Corey’s mother to ask him directly to take care of her son. Of course, he would (he loved Corey to Oort and back), but now it felt as if he had been officially entrusted with the welfare and happiness of their only son.

“I will?”

“I always knew you were a good’un,” she gave him a small smile as she patted his shoulder. She did not have much time to add anything because Corey threw himself into her arms, cheeks all wet and eyes red.

“You’re a decent lad,” Mr Bryant now clapped his massive hand on Mason’s shoulder. “I’m glad that at least he’s got you.”

Mason heard Corey chuckle and sigh as he pulled away from his mother, walking back to Mason and snaking an arm around his boyfriend’s waist.

“There is much to plan,” Corey’s dad said, putting an arm around his wife’s shoulders. “You need to find a cabin here, because I don’t think you can opt for this one once we’ve gone, and you won’t be going to that observatory any time soon.”

“Dad?” Corey asked, surprised yet again.

“We may not talk much, but we know how to listen,” Mr Bryant chuckled. “And let’s sit down. This is not something to discuss in the hallway.”

Corey’s parents pushed them to the living room while they walked into the kitchen. As the two of them sat down, they heard the clinking of glasses and bottles. Mason and Corey sat together, knees bumping and shoulders brushing. Corey had so much to say, so many worries that he had bottled up, but they were all evaporating, and he could only smile. His eyes were still full of tears, but Corey was not sad. Mason was not sad.

Corey was not losing his family or abandoning them. They were not leaving him behind. They could be at different ends of the Solar System but, somehow, they still would be there. It would not be easy, but not all things were. Besides, Mason was going to be there with him.

**˳̊ ¤ ˳̊ Ø ˳̊ ¤ ˳̊**

Corey cried the day his parents finished packing their possessions. That was the day before they boarded on the glider that was taking them to Jupiter and then, from there, all the way to Mercury. He had never expected to do that, since he had developed in his teenage years the belief that his parents did not care about him, that he was invisible to them, and that they did not make family decisions with him in mind. It seemed now that his parents’ detachment had more to do with a deeply-ingrained sense of belonging somewhere else rather than a constant life of sabotaging their son’s teenage hopes.

He spent the following couple of nights in the Hewitts’ cabin, sleeping in Isaac’s bunk. Isaac was more than happy to oblige, since that gave him an excuse to spend more time with whichever shipman he had chosen to bang that particular week. On the third day, however, he and Mason walked to the Admin Block, where Hayden, one of the junior bureaucrats, helped him get a new cabin.

“But I see from your record that you will be off-station soon?” she said, looking carefully at her screen.

“I’m in the sub-station management programme,” Corey admitted. “But my post is not ready yet.”

“And don’t you have a temporary post?” she insisted. “To complete your programme, I mean.”

“I’ve got a tour around the crackers,” Corey sighed, looking sadly at Mason. One day they would live together in the observatory, but that was not going to happen just yet – mostly because the observatory was not built.

“Fair enough,” the bureaucrat nodded sharply as she quickly typed something. “Do you know where you’re starting first?”

“I’m going with Erica,” he answered. “Do you know her?”

“I’ve met her, yes…” she replied, still reading something on her computer. “Okay, here’s your cabin. B-A-2234,” Hayden tapped a last command, and Corey’s buzzer pinged with a new notification.

“You’re all sorted now,” she concluded with a smile.

“Thanks,” Mason replied with a smile while his boyfriend stared at the screen of his buzzer, checking the details.

“No worries,” Hayden smiled, only before looking past the couple to shout. “NEXT!”

Corey and Mason walked out of the admin building and down to the Avenue, discussing Corey’s new cabin. Block B branch A was close to where he used to live with his parents, but 2234 was in the middle level, and it was likely to be a single pod. That did not really bother Corey much, since he was going to be living off-station on and off for the next couple of years, but he was feeling bad because he really wanted to move in with Mason.

“We’ll go to the furniture store first,” Mason said, already with a clear idea in his head of what Corey’s pod was going to look like. “We’ll get you a few things and have them sent there.”

“We haven’t even been in the pod yet, Mase. Shouldn’t we have a look first?”

“It’s an individual pod. They’re all the same,” Mason smirked.

“I’ll hardly be there,” Corey did not like the idea of turning a temporary pod into something homey, but Mason was very firmly for that idea.

“And does that mean that you should not make it your home when you’re here?”

“I’d rather spend my time back here with you,” Corey grinned maliciously.

“Yeah, tell Isaac that.”

“He’ll be busy, I’m sure,” Corey said, and it was true. Isaac seemed to have got over Gabe for good and had started going out and meeting guys, although he seemed rather inclined to go for crewmen who would only be on Beacon H for a week. “And when is he getting his own pod?”

“I wish I knew,” Mason rolled his eyes with an exaggerated gesture. Since it was highly unlikely that he would get a pod of his own any time soon (as an off-station manager Corey was entitled to one), his only option for privacy was to get Isaac to move out. Corey knew, however, that a small part of Mason would be happy to see his brother do that.

“How does he do it with all those pilots and mechanics?”

“That I really don’t want to know… And stop talking about Isaac’s sex life and focus on your new cabin!”

Corey shook his head and Mason pulled him for a quick peck. Then, and not taking a ‘no’ for an answer, he dragged his boyfriend to the shop.

Later that evening, Mason and Corey had just finished bringing Corey’s few belongings into his new pod when someone knocked on the door.

“Hello,” Isaac said with a smile.

“What have you got there?” Corey nodded at Isaac’s hands, that were right behind his back.

“I brought you this,” Isaac then revealed a small plant in a pot.

“Have you been smuggling plants out of the hydroponics bay?” Mason asked. Having plants was not illegal, but he only knew of one place where that plant could have come from.

“No?” Isaac said with the kind of smirk he used when he purposefully lied, which was the same one he used when he was telling the truth knowing he would not be believed. “There’s a new shop.”

“Where?”

“In the hub,” he replied. “I thought you’d like it. Anyways, I can take it and—”

“No, no. I’ll keep it!” Corey was quick to intervene. “Thank you very much, Isaac.”

“I knew you’d like it. Everyone likes plants.”

With that sorted, Corey offered to take the two brothers out for dinner, since Mason had helped him with moving everything and the paperwork, and Isaac… Isaac had got him a plant. Mason obviously argued against this, because he had planned something more private and intimate for them, to which Isaac simply rolled his eyes and put an arm around Corey’s shoulder, guiding him towards the canteen. Despite their bickering and teasing, Corey knew that Isaac and Mason came as a pack, and he did not mind.

The evening passed all too quickly. The three of them had a nice dinner, then Boyd and Erica joined them for a drink, and they had a good laugh all around. And while Isaac enjoyed teasing Mason, he knew when he was really third-wheeling, so when they finished their drink, Isaac politely went off with Boyd and Erica, leaving Mason and Corey on their own.

“Are we sure about this?” Corey said as they walked back towards his cabin.

“About what?” Mason smiled, hooking his elbow in Corey’s.

“About our plan. About me going away for two years. About the observatory.”

“Are you having doubts?” Mason stopped. The colony ring was mostly empty at that point and, in the blue light they thought of as night time, Mason saw his boyfriend give him a sad smile.

“No. Of course not,” Corey was quick to reassure him. “But I… I’m asking a lot from you. I’m asking you to wait for me to finish my placement, when you could—”

“You’re not asking me to do anything,” Mason cut him short. “I don’t mind waiting for you. I want to, because I love you. And if this is what we have to go through to get our wonderful life out in the observatory, then so be it.”

“Won’t you miss me?” Corey sounded vulnerable.

“Of course I will, you asteroid,” he gave him a quick kiss. “You haven’t gone off yet and I’m missing you already.”

“Oh, shush,” Corey chuckled, but he still buried his face in Mason’s shoulder so his boyfriend would not see his eyes redden. He felt Mason’s arms wrap and embrace him, and Corey felt warm and safe.

“You’ll have to take care of my plant,” he said after a pause, making Mason chuckle.

“So that’s all you get out of this?” Mason said, pushing Corey away from him, so he could smile at him openly and frankly.

“If Isaac hadn’t got it for me…”

“He’s a tholinhead, but I guess I’ll have to accept that burden,” Mason sighed dramatically, making Corey snort as he rubbed his eye. “The sacrifices I do for you… taking care of an orphaned plant…”

“I love you,” Corey said, putting his arms over Mason’s shoulders.

“I love you too.”

That night Corey realised he had no reasons to fear or to cry. Going off to a floating station in the Kuiper Belt was part of the path he had chosen. Mason would always be there for him along the way, no matter the distance. Even if, as Isaac told them much later, he did it only for that plant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there we go! The end to this fulff-loaded Morey fic! I think I'll write a short epilogue because there are a few things that I still want to add, but the chapter had a natural end-


	4. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eventually, Corey and Mason move to the observatory

It took three more years for the observatory to be ready and functional.

In those three years Corey bounced from one drilling station to another, always filling whichever administrative gap was available in order to achieve his required practice credits. Eventually he got his qualification as Sub-station Controller, but even so he spent months and months in mining stations away from Beacon H. That meant that he spent months and months without seeing Mason, and that was difficult. There were posts where the connection was poor, and some others had some considerable lag, all of which were a test to his patience and his commitment to his relationship with Mason. More than once Corey thought that the right thing to do would be to break up with him so Mason at least could have a normal life – Corey did not want to be a burden if there was a chance Mason could find someone who loved him and cared for him who lived on Beacon H. Of course, Mason would not hear a word of that.

Whenever he was back on Beacon H Corey spent most of his time arguing with Hayden about his deployment, because it was very convenient for her to have a qualified controller without an allocated post, but the Neptunian did not like being thrown around like that. It was difficult enough committing to a job knowing it was on a fixed term, but the way Hayden used him to cover any vacancy whatsoever was beyond annoying. But at least those days back home he got to spend all his free time with Mason, sleeping in his cabin. Every evening was a date night, every free afternoon was a chance for a romantic escapade. Since he was one more of the family, Mr and Mrs Hewitt spoiled him whenever he visited. Isaac was equally happy to see him, and Corey was always glad to set aside one evening for Isaac to inevitably crash their date.

When he was deployed off station Corey was usually paired with Erica, since the planetologist needed to do most of her practical placements supervising mining operations. She could very quickly grind his gears, but they learnt to work together and get along, although they were never as close as she was with Isaac. Corey and Erica were deployed on a station half-way to Makemake when she got the notification that she had finally been assigned a desk job back on the main colony. That evening the two of them celebrated with the miners, but both of them ended up drunk and crying, since that meant that Corey was going to tour around the crackers on his own from then on.

Those last ten months were harder than he had expected. Corey knew how to keep busy and entertained on a mining station, and he was friendly with (even if he never got close to) the miners or the second controller, but without Erica to keep him on his toes or to take him to Makemake when they had were on short leave, living out there soon got boring and even depressing. Only the thought of going back to Mason made his stay there bearable. Since Isaac was helping in the construction of the observatory, the engineer gave him updates, but work was painfully slow.

Meanwhile, during those three years, Mason got his Astronomy degree. He spent an innumerable number of hours in the observation bays (sometimes accompanied by Isaac) and the Education Block, always studying, calculating, and typing. He attended a course on Ultima Thule and even presented a paper at a conference. But Corey’s absence was difficult and exhausting. Mason knew that they had to wait; he knew that they were on the right path for their happily-ever-after plan, but the interim period was harsh.

Mason tried his best to visit Corey whenever he could, even if mining stations were not the best place for a romantic escapade. Besides, there was little he could do while his boyfriend was working. But Mason knew he had to make the effort, because more than once Corey’s resolution flaked, and he sensed his boyfriend’s doubts when he came up with crazy ideas about letting him go, and how their relationship was unfair on Mason. Having to be the strong one in all these situations was taxing, especially because Mason was always the one who had to be strong for both of them. But then again, Corey’s smile always made it easier. The reward made it worth it.

Meanwhile, on Beacon H, Mason had time to see Isaac give up his long list of casual lovers and settle for this one boy his age called Nolan. At first Mason thought that this Nolan could help his brother get over the affronts of Gabe… but boy, was he wrong. Isaac was older and more mature at this point, and so was Mason, so they managed to sit down and talk about their break up, but for a few weeks Mason was too worried about his sulking and heartbroken brother to really focus on his studies. And then, after a while, and when Isaac was back on track, Captain McCall appeared, who became a completely different chapter in Isaac’s love life. That time, at least, his brother seemed to cope well on his own.

What Mason liked the most whenever Corey came back (other than re-encounter sex, which was always amazing and always worth repeating) was seeing his boyfriend’s face whenever he opened his cabin. To his credit, Mason appeared to have the greenest fingers anyone who had not been born on a planet with plants could have. The result was that the little plant that Isaac had got Corey had grown. And multiplied. And Mason never lost the chance to buy a new plant whenever a merchant from the inner planets came to the Outer Rim, so that in the end Corey’s cabin became a small space garden.

Neither Mason nor Corey could have foreseen when they met seven years before at the inauguration of Beacon H that they would be moving in together as boyfriends to the brand-new Kuiper Belt Space Observatory. They might have laughed at anyone who told them that they would be as in love as they had been on that first date that Isaac crashed. They would have definitely not believed for a second that their main problem was going to be that they did not have enough space in the observatory for all the plants they had accumulated. This of course gave them the perfect excuse to gift them forward to Erica, the Hewitts, Isaac, Boyd, and Greenberg. They even saved a Martian alpine cactus for Derek, who accepted it with a huff and the tiniest of smiles. Giving plants away made teary goodbyes lighter, and with plants even farewell hugs were less awkward. But they also gave everyone a small memento, a promise that they had not really left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a very short epilogue to bring the fic _back_ to the main storyline!

**Author's Note:**

> Glossary  
> • Asteroid – small rocky object orbiting the sun. Figuratively: idiot, moron.  
> • Buzzer – AI wrist communicator.  
> • Frozeball – (insult, vulg.) in general, native of the frozen edge beyond Saturn.  
> • Gaser – (colloq.) native of the Gaseous Giants, Jupiter and Saturn.  
> • Icer – (colloq.) native of the Ice Giants, Uranus and Neptune.  
> • Innerd – (colloq. Uranian) non-Icer, native of any planet closer than Uranus to the Sun.  
> • Koop – (colloq.) native of the Kuiper Belt.  
> • Oort – cloud of gas at the edge of the Solar System. Figuratively: the worst place imaginable; Hell.  
> • Oortwards – away from the Sun. Figuratively: badly.  
> • Space – cosmos; expanse and realm of the celestial bodies. Figuratively, exclamation.  
> • Tholins – (astrochem.) basic organic compounds, mostly gaseous in the Ice Giants, but frozen solid in the Kuiper Belt.  
> 


End file.
